III
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Ignatius, of Loyola, Saint and Coppens, Charles
It is very consoling for those who enter on these Spiritual Exercises to remember that their efficacy for good is far greater than men are apt to imagine; they are not merely human, but in some respects Divine; hence their extraordinary power to sanctify us.
1. These exercises are Divine in the truths they teach us; for they consist chiefly of meditations on the word of God; and the word of God is the seed of salvation: Semen est verbum Dei. It is not the learning of philosophers or scientists that brings us eternal life, but the teachings of Christ; and these are the power working in the retreat.
2. These Exercises are Divine in the principal director who conducts them; for in them the Spirit of God instructs and enlightens the soul of the exercitant and sanctifies it. The printed page containing these teachings, or the Father Master who explains them is not the chief power at work during the retreat, no more than the audible voice of Christ converted and sanctified the souls of His hearers. God speaks to our heart in the retreat, saying, “Hear, O my people, and I will speak.... I am God, thy God” (Ps. 49).
3. Not only the several truths considered during these days are the word of God, but the whole plan of these Spiritual Exercises is in a true sense Divine. For no one who is familiar with the facts of St. Ignatius’ life can believe that he had acquired, at the time when he produced this masterpiece of sacred wisdom, such knowledge of the spiritual life as it exhibits on every page. When he came to Manresa, he was a mere novice in spirituality. And in fact he himself always felt convinced that he owed these Exercises to Divine illumination. Thus, as Bartoli relates, “on one occasion the Saint confessed to Father Laynez that one hour of prayer at Manresa had taught him more concerning spiritual things than he could have learned from the instructions of the wisest doctors” (Life, I. p. 57).
The object which this unique book has accomplished was to reduce the direction of soul to a science, that bases on certain principles of faith an exact and positive method, which, guided by the rules prescribed, insures almost infallible success. Considering the circumstances in which it was written we cannot but attribute this work to superhuman aid. Hence its wonderful efficiency, testified to by countless witnesses, and continued in the experience of three centuries till the present day.